This invention relates to an apparatus and process for separation of laminae. This apparatus and process are especially but not exclusively intended for use in the manufacture of pouches used as parts of identification devices.
Laminar structures in the form of identification devices (for example, cards or badges) which carry a photograph and/or other identifying indicia pertaining to the bearer of the device are commonplace and have many recognized security and identification applications. Such identification devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,361,670; 3,313,052; and 4,305,215.
Such identification devices are often produced by laminating an insert comprising the photograph or other identifying indicia of the person authorized to use the card within a pouch comprising two sheets of plastic or similar material. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,461 describes an identity card structure and a method for the preparation thereof using a transferred adhesive. The laminar structures comprise a color diffusion transfer photographic print bonded to a vinyl sheet using an adhesive mixture of a vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer and a hydroxylated polymer, and are prepared using an adhesive-supporting carrier sheet. Typically, the pouch carries heat-activatable adhesive which is activated to adhere the pouch to the insert and also to seal peripheral portions of the two plastic sheets which extend beyond the insert to one another so as to completely enclose the insert within the pouch. Such identification devices may hereinafter be called "insert/pouch" devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,701 describes an identity or credit card and a laminar assembly for preparing same. A layer comprising specific ethylene copolymers or mixtures thereof and a layer comprising a hydroxylated polymer is stated to be an especially effective heat-activatable adhesive in such cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,442 describes a laminar structure comprising a diffusion transfer color photographic image on a stratum comprising a mixture of polyvinyl pyridine and polyvinyl alcohol, the surface of the stratum being bonded to the surface of a transparent layer of sheet material, and an identification card including such a laminar structure.
In identification devices, ensuring that unauthorized persons cannot prepare forged devices sufficiently similar to authorized devices to deceive users and security personnel is of course of paramount importance, and great efforts have been made to render identification devices forgery-proof. One common means for improving the security of identification devices is the incorporation into the device of a hologram; holograms are extremely difficult to reproduce, and forged copies can readily be detected even by untrained personnel. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,047. In insert/pouch devices, it is common practice to attach the hologram to the pouch so that it becomes firmly bonded to the insert when the pouch is secured to the insert.
Commercial systems for issuing identification devices are of two main types, namely "on-the-spot" or "multipoint" issue, and "central" or "single-point" issue. In the former type, the intended bearer of an identification device will report to an issuance station where appropriate photographic materials and equipment are assembled. Typically, a data card containing personalized information relating to the bearer is prepared, usually by adding such information to a preprinted data card bearing information pertaining to the card issuing authority or association. The data card and the bearer are photographed simultaneously with a camera unit employing diffusion transfer photographic film, and the resultant print is used as an insert, which is placed within and heat-sealed to a pouch to form the identification device, which is then immediately handed to its bearer. Such a system minimizes the time required of the bearer and the technician operating the equipment, and provides the maximum security since both the bearer and the technician can check that the device has been properly prepared. In central issue systems, the bearer reports to a data gathering station where identifying data, normally including a photograph of the bearer, are prepared. However, in a central issue system, the identifying data are transmitted, as hard copy or electronically, to a central issue point where the final identification device is assembled and mailed to its bearer.
Central issue systems suffer from two serious drawbacks. Transmission of the data to the central station and mailing of the identification device back to the bearer typically takes several days, during which time the bearer is deprived of the device. If the bearer must have a device immediately (for example, because the device is a driver's license which the bearer is required by law to carry when driving), it is necessary for each data gathering station to be able to issue each bearer with a temporary identification device which can be used until the permanent device reaches the bearer. To reduce the cost of the temporary device and the apparatus needed at each data gathering station to produce it, the temporary device usually lacks at least some of the security features of the permanent device. The presence of even a small proportion of such low-security temporary devices circulating with the high-security permanent devices compromises the security provided by the entire system, since security personnel must accept the low-security temporary devices in place of the permanent ones, and the would-be counterfeiter's task is reduced to forging a low-security temporary device. This problem is exacerbated in practice by the tendency for identification devices to be used for purposes beyond those originally intended; for example, driving licenses are often used as age-checking devices to enforce alcoholic beverage control laws, so temporary driving licenses facilitate the purchase of alcohol by underage persons. Central issue systems also suffer from the disadvantage that the persons producing the final license never see the bearer, so any errors introduced in the data gathering process will not become apparent until the bearer receives the final identification device. Correcting the data takes additional time and effort on the part of the bearer, and in some cases (as for example where an employee is inadvertently assigned a security classification higher than that to which he is entitled, or a young driver is assigned an erroneous birthdate), the bearer may have an incentive not to correct the mistake.
For the foregoing reasons, both issuers and bearers of identification devices usually prefer a multipoint issue system to a central issue one. However, there is one disadvantage of multipoint issue systems to which central issue ones are not subject and which causes a minority of issuers to prefer central issue systems. In a multipoint system, it is necessary to distribute large quantities of the materials needed to produce the identification documents to all the points at which the devices are issued. For example, in a typical insert/pouch system in which an important security feature is a hologram supplied attached to the pouch, large numbers of pouches must be distributed to the numerous issue points. At present, such hologram-bearing pouches are not distinguishable from one another, and consequently an unauthorized person coming into possession of such a pouch can produce a forged identification device by forging an appropriate insert, which is usually much easier than forging a pouch. A large number of persons come into contact with the pouches during their distribution, including for example delivery personnel employed to transport the pouches to the issue points, and such persons may be strongly tempted to divert pouches to unauthorized persons given the willingness of many people, such as persons banned from driving and would-be underage drinkers, to pay substantial sums for forged identification devices. Indeed, there has been at least one case reported where an armed robbery was carried out at a Motor Vehicle Registry branch and the robber ignored cash but stole pouches, which are said to be worth more than $100 each on the black market.
The security of multipoint issue systems can be improved by uniquely identifying each element of an identification device which contains a security feature. For example, in the insert/pouch systems discussed above in which the main security feature is a hologram on the pouch, the security of the system could be improved by imprinting each pouch with a unique identifying indicium, e.g., a serial number. With each pouch uniquely identified, if any pouches are diverted to unauthorized users before use, the relevant serial numbers can be "voided" in an automated database, and persons charged with enforcing the security system can be instructed to check the database before accepting the validity of any purported security device. However, in practice there has been no satisfactory technique for applying the serial numbers or other indicia to the large numbers of pouches required in commercial practice. It is not satisfactory to place the serial number on the outside surface of the pouch, and thus on the outside surface of the finished identification device, since such serial numbers are subject to tampering. However, providing a serial number on an inside surface of the pouch requires opening the pouch (i.e., pulling its two leaves apart) and this process is surprisingly difficult to automate. Pouches are normally mass produced by superposing first and second sheets of material, each sheet having heat-activatable adhesive on one surface, and the adhesive-bearing surfaces being in contact. The sheets are then secured together at a number of positions, typically by spot welding, and then die cutting is effected through both sheets simultaneously so as to divide the sheets into a plurality of rectangular pouches each comprising a portion of the first sheet and a portion of the second sheet, the two portions (or "leaves") being secured together along one edge by one or more spot welds. The die cutting, together with the presence of the adhesive on the inner surfaces of the pouches causes the two leaves of each pouch to adhere to each other at least along their edges. Although it is possible to separate the leaves of each pouch manually, typically by twisting the pouch, it is very difficult to effect such separation mechanically, as is required for mass production of pouches bearing printing on at least one inner surface.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and process for separating the adhering leaves of pouches, and this invention provides such an apparatus and process. The apparatus and process of this invention may also be used in other areas where it is necessary to separate laminae.